Victoria’s Secret The Nakeds Eye Palette Review & Swatches
Ahhhh the moment you’ve all been waiting for! Is the Victoria’s Secret The Nakeds Eye Kit Palette worth it?
This $28 palette features a slick little face plate that could get your blood pressure way up. Who doesn’t love brilliant packaging? Housing 10 shimmering shades of nude shadow, a brush for application, and an eyeliner pencil plus a how to get the look guide this one seemed like a hot pick for Fall.
Is it?
No.
Sorry.
Here’s the scoop….
Visually, Victoria’s Secret did an excellent job with the packaging here. This is a flip close palette that has a faux croc-like feel with a mirrored face plate that simply states “The Nakeds”. It’s pricey looking, it’s pretty, and it’s very appealing to those us that put great importance on packaging. It’s a little bit of a magnet for fingerprints which disturbs an anal person like myself.
Lord knows they must have spent the entire budget to create the outside packaging alone as it really is a nicely made palette.
Inside they did cheap things up a little bit as the shadows are laid out on a plastic tray. I wasn’t thrilled about this and particularly was displeased when two of the shadows popped out of the wells easily. I almost broke the two black shades as I opened it one day and both we’re laying loosely in their wells. Now they do have a metal casing so if you’re the type that likes depotting, these will easily pop out. I dislike that they paid such a great deal of attention to the outer packaging but got a little lazy with the inside.
The Nakeds…that’s a little misleading. I get more of a taupe feel from these shades than I do a “naked” or “natural” one. Perhaps Urban Decay has conditioned us into believing all naked shades should be made up of warm browns, rich bronzes, and gorgeous golds but…maybe not because I’ve always commonly associated the naked/natural look with those shades so I was kinda disappointed that these shades aren’t what I would dub naked. The shades start out with cooler, pastels of peach, cream, and pink and they graduate to sultrier shades of taupe, brown, and black. I feel like the shades aren’t balanced as on one hand you have shades to create a completely nude look and on the other you have shades to use in a smoky lid. Granted, you might think it’s wonderful as you have a variety of colors for either a nude eye or a smoky one. However, if you’re buying for a natural/naked look I do think the introduction of the smokier shades could prove disappointing.
I don’t feel like the formula is anything to rave too hard about. They do swatch with a ton of frost but don’t write them off for that reason alone. I was a little scared on first swatch but I applied and they apply with a silky almost velvet-like texture. There isn’t a ton of glitter or shimmer or sparkle here either (outside of the matte black which has chunky silver glitter) actually most of the shades have a touch of a sheen but not sparkle.
For me the formula is a toss up. It’s smooth, it blends easily, shades seem to play nice together, and they do have decent pigmentation but they lack any pop. They just seem so terribly bland and the formula feels terribly uneventful to me. I can’t rant about how terrible the formula is because there is some quality here. I just didn’t really like them. They had a faint chalkiness to them that just didn’t sit well on my eye lid. Victoria’s Secret did take time out to name each shade which I am thankful for. Too many smaller house brands put out palettes and fail to name the individual shades inside them so it’s a refreshing and nice change to have a name for each color.
They also include a brush and a liner. I think the brush is absolutely useless and I probably don’t need to go into great detail about why, just look at the photo. The liner isn’t too bad. I’ve tried creamier but it has decent pigmentation and applies easily enough.
At $28 I think the price isn’t friendly at all. I can use that money for something far higher end and get far better quality along with it. The shades are .02 oz versus Urban Decay’s Naked Palette at $50 for 12 shades of shadow at 0.05 oz each. Victoria’s Secret should consider pricing it at around $15. For me, it’s worth like $12 but most definitely not near $30.
Now I do think if you loved the NYX Butt Naked Palette this might be a tempting pick up. I also think it’s appealing for taupe lovers as that’s the look you’re getting here (although I went a little different in one of my looks below).
For me, it was a let down. The formula is sub-par at best, the price isn’t terribly appealing, and the over looks you can create are boring for me.
This one just wasn’t a love.
No likey!
Sorry VS, I typically enjoy your makeup but this I didn’t love.
Tried it?
Do share!
I’d love to hear your thoughts!